5 Tips for Buying a Refrigerator

Buying a new refrigerator isn't something you do every day. You may only buy a refrigerator once or twice in your life, so you'll learn more about buying cars than refrigerators. That's because apartments and houses usually come with a refrigerator. As long as it fits the space and works, you probably won't replace it.

But the refrigerator in my new house doesn't work, so it's time for a new one. Unfortunately the home inspection didn't uncover the problem, although we discovered the refrigerator didn't kept things cold. Getting heat was our first priority. Now it's time for a new refrigerator, and if you're wondering how we could delay this decision – it's because we have two refrigerators. (Read: Two Kitchens and Two New Refrigerators)

When getting a home warranty, make sure you add the refrigerator to the policy. This will cost extra ($50 on our policy) but if any appliance is going to fail, it's likely going to be your refrigerator.

Buying a Refrigerator – Where to Start

This is the sixth refrigerator we're buying, so I've got more experience than the average homeowner … but still learning. We built one house, remodeled several kitchens and had to replace a Whirlpool refrigerator because the ice maker kept creating a frozen waterfall (my husband called it Niagra Falls in miniature). Fortunately the builder warranty on the refrigerator covered about 90% of the cost of the replacement, plus we got $700 for the food we lost.

We'll always remember the San Jose kitchen remodel where we learned a lot. When we slid the new refrigerator into place, we knew we were in trouble because the refrigerator blocked the doorway into the dining room. That's when we learned that the size of your refrigerator matters a lot!

The other lesson I'm learning about buying a refrigerator is I'm not a shopper. If I could wave a magic wand and have a new refrigerator appear in my house, one that fits the space, with water and ice in the door, I'd be very happy. In fact I made the same mistake most consumers buy, I went shopping before I'd done my research and that's not a good idea.

But wait, what's the right way to buy a refrigerator? Here are the steps I recommend (and used personally to buy my refrigerator) using to make a smart, savvy purchase. You can also download my free checklist on buying a refrigerator, to save yourself some time.

Do some online research to learn what's important when buying a refrigerator.

Visit several websites to learn what refrigerator style appeals to you. First you want to recognize what the styles are called, which you can do on a manufacturer or retail site. Then you want to see that style in a kitchen setting on sites like Pinterest or Houzz.

Now you're ready to visit an appliance store. Why? How the refrigerator interior is arranged is a lot more important than it's exterior look. Because I like to snack all day, on yogurt, fruits and vegetables, a French door refrigerator works best for me.

Last, it's time to research your top choices (2 or 3 recommended) to get the best price and make sure the manufacturer and model have a good track record with respect to repairs.

Non-Negotiable Requirements When Buying a Refrigerator

There are 2 sets of criteria you'll need to consider when buying a refrigerator – things you need (non-negotiable) and things you want (features you like). The dimensions of the refrigerator are non-negotiable unless you're willing to reconfigure your kitchen. Having an external water and ice dispenser is a nice feature (my favorite) but not essential, e.g. I might pay a few hundred dollars extra but not a thousand dollars for this feature.

Storage capacity to support your family size, how frequently you shop, your preferences for fresh versus packaged food and don't forget, you'll want a refrigerator that looks right when selling your home.

Refrigerator dimensions to avoid having to adjust existing cabinets and/or walls. This includes both the space where your refrigerator sits, as well as enough room for the doors to swing open. Height is important too although raising/removing the cabinet above the refrigerator is easier to do.

Energy efficiency, with EnergyStar recommended for lower electricity use and cost. As these standards change, you might find it easier to simply compare the Kwhs used when buying a refrigerator.

Repair history so you can avoid repairs, which wastes a lot of time. Our waterfall refrigerator took five scheduled repairs before we got approval to replace it. While the extended warranty covered about 90% of the cost of the new refrigerator, it still took time to pick out a new refrigerator and schedule (twice) delivery and installation.

Buying a Refrigerator Includes Some Fun Decisions

Once you've dealt with the basics, it's time to explore the style and features you want in your new refrigerator. They all come in stainless, which represents about 70% of purchases today. Many models can be ordered in other colors although you'll probably pay the same price as stainless.

When buying an appliance, the best people to talk to are the local companies that sell and service the appliances, because they know where the problems are across thousands of appliances.

When Spencer's said they didn't sell Samsung because they don't have the repair parts or service infrastructure to provide good customer service, I dug a little more. Finding 2 of 3 other companies made the same decision, we picked a different brand.

Trust me, we didn't pay anything close to list price. In fact one of the great new web resources I discovered while researching which refrigerator to buy, was Shop.PriceSpider.com which provided me with this graph for the actual refrigerator I'm buying.

So if you're getting ready to buy a new refrigerator (love mine), then you'll want to download our checklist that makes it easy to compare your top choices.

This is really and amazing refrigerator buying guide. I like the two important points described above : 1. Dimension 2. Energy efficiency These two points are really very important to check while buying a new refrigerator. Thanks for sharing ..

I agree with your 2 decision points. When shopping for a new refrigerator recently, I was amazed (appalled really) that Consumer Reports was promoting a refrigerator that did not have an Energy Star rating.

Thanks for sharing such an important post. and here are a few tips for buying a refrigerator 1. Find the right configuration: 2. Opt for Energy Star: 3. Get rid of your old fridge: 4. Be careful of counter-depth: 5. Use your new fridge wisely:

Your tips are quite good for someone picking a refrigerator for their home. Apart from the standard guidelines for choosing the right refrigerator, the food habits (cooking, baking, eating) also matter, don’t you think? One must not ignore this because I personally buy lots of stuff and can’t find space in the refrigerator to store them. My suggestion would be to consider the food habits while buying a refrigerator. Please correct me if I am wrong.

You’re absolutely right that your refrigerator starts with the quantity & types of food you’ll store there. I personally love the short bottom drawer where I keep all my snacks like yogurt, apple sauce & more. After my last purchase, I also love the dual ice makers as I like my drinks really, really cold.

It got me when you said that the person needs to know the dimension that the fridge needs to have before buying so that they can be sure that they won’t need to adjust the cabinets and such. If that is the case, then I am pretty sure there is plenty of room in the kitchen for a large fridge. Everything has been prepared in advance apparently because my brother wants a fridge with French doors. Surely that kind of fridge is large.

Tatiana, You need to check on both the width (more obvious) and the height. With my handyman business, we have several jobs where we had to remove the cabinet over the fridge and cut it down to fit a taller refrigerator. This was never easy because the homeowners only realized they had a problem 1 to 2 days before the new refrigerator got delivered.

This is some really good information about a refrigerator. It does seem like a good idea to have a French style door on one. That does seem like it would help you organize it easier. It might be smart to make sure that they can get fixed easily.

Hi Tina, Great tips. It is better to opt for a refrigerator that comes with Inverter Technology as they consume less power and run at a constant speed. There will be 20 – 40% energy savings. Also, buyers should look at EnergyStar ratings before buying a fridge. On a simple note, the higher the EnergyStar rating, the lower the power consumption.

My old refrigerator finally died, and I need to buy a new one. Thank you for all the tips about buying a new refrigerator. I liked your tip about doing research online about the different kinds of styles of refrigerators. That would help narrow down my search in a store.

The storage capacity of the refrigerator should always be one of the first things you look into. As the article points out, you need to take the size of your family into consideration. After all, you’d want to choose a fridge that can hold enough food to feed your whole family.

I just wanted to thank you for going over things to think about when buying a refrigerator. I’m glad you mentioned that you should check out the interior of a refrigerator and see if it will fit your needs. I’d like to learn more about different functionality designs, and some circumstances they would be more ideal for.

I’m looking to buy a new refrigerator, so the tips you provided were all really helpful. I liked your suggestion to do some research as the first step. Being able to identify what I’m looking for would help me narrow down my search to refrigerators that fit my wants.

Sorting your requirements for an appliance into those that are non-negotiable and those that you simply like sounds like a great way to get started. My husband and I need to get a refrigerator for our new house, and we and to save as much money as we can on the purchase. Your tips are really helpful for choosing a fridge that will fit in your house and meet your needs. Rather than getting a brand new one from a store like you did, I’m going to see if I can find one used to save money.

Kairi, Another way to save money if you’re flexible, is to get a new refrigerator (or any appliance) that had some damage to it during shipping so it can’t be sold for full price. Most buyers will reject this option but you might be happy with the damage & an appropriate discount … and sometimes you don’t even see the damage on the outside.

Finding a refrigerator with the right storage capacity to support your family size, how frequently you shop and your food preferences is excellent advice. Making sure the refrigerator fits in the space is also excellent advice. I would imagine that buying a refrigerator that will last you a long time is also something to take into consideration.

Yes Tiffany, my preference was to buy my refrigerator from an appliance store that has a repair company too. If you buy from Best Buy, you’re probably on your own finding someone to handle repairs although I’ve never researched this.

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